September brings annual village fair promoting traditional Tuscan fruit.
Tuscany’s annual Londa Village Fair begins this week in homage of the “regina di Londa”, a traditional white peach that ripens later than most others. The fair showcases this delicious, seasonal fruit along with many other wonderful Italian delicacies. A wide selection of stalls provide plenty of culinary delicacies for all to sample. Popular dishes such as polenta with game sauce, deep-fried pastries coated in honey, tortelli and traditional Tuscan desserts will be available as well as stands producing dishes containing the white peach.
To establish the difference between a normal peach and Tuscany’s white peach, you are looking for a fruit with pale green skins tinged with a slight dash of red. When cut, the flesh of the peach is pure white with the usual stone located at the heart of the fruit.
White peaches are laden with flavour offering a delicate sweetness combined with slight bitter undertones. The white peach is a delicious Italian fruit and is stated to have an incomparable richness in comparison to other fruits of its kind.
Although the white peach can be enjoyed at any time of the day, the classic Italian way is to enjoy the fruit with alcohol. Slicing the peach into a glass and pouring a delicious choice of wine over them provides a traditional way to consume the fruit. Most Italians leave the fruit to soak in the alcohol first eventually eating the fruit at the end of their drink.
The white peach is known to add a distinct accent to wine, especially Tuscany’s signature red wines, and can be used in pureed form to create the famous Italian cocktail The Bellini.
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Image: Evan-Amos available via Creative Commons.